E3 was supposed to be the staging point for the next Bungie bombshell but Microsoft was said to cut it to save time. Bungie had big plans to reveal some stuff they were working on and really take best in show for E3. Was it really cut because of time?
This sounds fabricated, cutting a huge announcement because of time constraints makes absolutely no sense. Imagine a firework show where you cut the grand finale because it would push the show over by a few minutes. Just dropping a title name or a 30 second teaser video would have taken a minute at most, we’re not looking for long winded explanations, just the facts.
Perhaps the real reason was Microsoft had it in their back pocket if people found the Netflix and Final Fantasy XIII news hum drum compared to anything Sony or Nintendo were to show off. Reacting dynamically to the news, perhaps they realized Sony didn’t have any epic announcements and Nintendo just showed up to hint at their future accessories. Microsoft’s haymaker of an announcement wasn’t needed to win the show this year.
Or, maybe the low turn out to the event just wouldn’t build enough hype for Microsoft’s big announcement. They could find a better outlet to turn on the hype and get people jazzed for the next Bungie product. Three years ago there is no doubt Microsoft would have come out fighting with all their weapons; this year Final Fantasy XIII was enough to show consumers that Sony’s lost their exclusives.
After the noise of E3 fades we’re sure to hear more from Bungie. We feel bad for the employees of Bungie who were ready to make the announcements on their work in progress. Sometimes, saving it for later is the best thing you can do; think of the anticipation that will build!
(Thanks, 1up)

Microsoft’s fast to push out their press release, probably hoping to overshadow any reports Sony may be releasing for sales numbers. At this point, we’ll have to believe their press release as fact until someone proves it otherwise; Microsoft would hate to be caught in a lie. Unfortunately, NPD figures aren’t collected in Europe so we have to wait for all the other metric gathering companies to release final December 2007 figures.